For the Love of Daffodils

Visiting Joe Hamm's library of blooms in Washington County

It’s hard to know when Joe Hamm turned his attention to daffodils. Maybe it’s when he saw his favorite uncle plant some bulbs? Or when he met some friendly daffodil-lovers in Indiana who invited him to join their garden club? Or maybe it’s when the deer ate everything else in his yard?

Joe’s sister Genie remembers something that their mother would say about Joe. As the story goes, “she would put him in the playpen in the yard and he would always manage to reach through the bars and get his hands in the dirt. She said she should have known he’d love to garden.”

Last month I got a chance to see the latest iteration of Joe’s garden which, in some ways, is more of a blooming library. I produced this segment with photograph Scott Danka for KDKA’s TALK Pittsburgh:

I knew daffodils came in different varieties but I had no idea that there are close to 30,000 kinds. Joe gave me a brochure listing the 13 classifications of daffodils according to the Royal Horticultural Society. Looking at an array of daffodils in vases on his table, he’d casually point out a “seven,” (which are typically fragrant and have between one to five flowers per stem). Joe explained that there are early, mid and late blooming varieties which can further be broken up into even smaller categories. His collection also represents the work of 348 hybridizers from across the globe.

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I asked Joe if he’d ever created his own daffodil variety. He’s created one and he named it “Buffalo Village,” for the area he lives in. It’s not a beautiful flower, he admits, but it seems like he’s more interested in curation than creation.

Joe’s daffodil collection is one of just a handful of display gardens approved by the American Daffodil Society. In 2022, Joe was awarded the American Daffodil Society Gold Medal which, according to their website, recognizes the “creative work of a pre-eminent nature in the understanding and advancement of daffodils.”

The blooms are wrapping up for 2025 but you can visit Joe Hamm’s collection next spring.

Are there are unique flower collections in your area? I’d love to hear about them.

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And one more thing: I was sweeping the Palm Court while volunteering at Phipps Conservatory the other day. Members of the horticulture team had just switched out some tulips and daffodils and as I swept flower debris into the dustpan, I was struck by how beautiful the pile of petals was.

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